By Sarah NEGEDU
At least two persons have been confirmed dead and four others pulled out from a rubble after a wall collapsed on them at Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Director-Generalof the FCT Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Dr Abbas Idriss, who confirmed this to journalists on Wednesday, said the victims were workers who were working on an uncompleted building when the wall on the adjourning collapsed on them.
“Around between 10 a.m to 11 a.m., we received a distress call that there was a building collapse beside the United Bank for Africa Bank at Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II.
“We quickly activated our rescue team to go there and on getting there they saw it was a wall that fell on artisans working around the area. So far six people were removed from the rubbles and two have died while four are in the hospital at the moment.
“It is a building under construction and they had encroached into the building next to them because it is not their building that fell it is the neighbour’s building that felt on them.”
He called on stakeholders saddled with the responsibility of granting building approvals in the FCT, like the Department of Development Control, Department of Engineering Services and other agencies, to ensure that they give proper approval and monitored constructions in all locations.
“That is the only way to guard against the situation because the approval supposed to be in phases as you give approval in phase one, when they do according to specification you now give them approval for the second phase that is how it should be.
“But if you give a blanket approval to just go and start the building they can build with whatever material they like. However, in this case like I said earlier, we are not talking about usage of inferior materials.
“It is because they extended their building and eaten into the neighbourhood structure, which eventually collapsed on the artisans.”